An image, which can be viewed on this page, was teased along with the announcement yesterday. The picture appears to reveal nine different living room settings in which it can be assumed either an individual or a family will be playing the Wii U during the ad.

Two weeks ago the first advertisement was aired in the United Kingdom, which highlighted features of the system such as off screen play and asymmetric gameplay. Whether this North American ad will show off these abilities is currently unknown.

Why have Wii U demo kiosks in stores when you don't have product to sell?

It's a waste of money that NoA could be using elsewhere"

I could be saying this for a good number of things Nintendo is doing with the Wii U. I actually asked about that in my local GS yesterday after playing the Wii U Rayman Legends demo. They told me they still have their waiting list to attend to. *shrugs*

Wii U Demo Kiosks allow folks to get hands-on experience with game play (i.e.: helping to sell software, of which there will be plenty) *and* they last "forever". The commercial lasts for the 30 seconds it's on TV. Longer if you DVR'd it, but then you'll just skip over it anyway.

The commercials are to provide info to those persons who are NOT watching every Nintendo live stream or living on video game related websites. Yes, it's hard for some gamers to fathom this but there are plenty of people out there who are not well informed about the latest in video game hardware. Also, pre-orders on the websites which actually provided pre-orders are sold out. Many stores (and the websites which are not allowing pre-orders) will be getting actual "free bird" consoles to sell. These will sell to a mixture of those who missed out on pre-orders and those who will only now be hearing about the console through these commercials.

@UncleBob and friendsA lot of people don't understand the concept of what a brand is and how advertising actually works, so from your standpoint, I can see how you think this would be a waste of money given that preorders are sold out.

The truth is that the bulk of Nintendo's advertising for the console launch to it's core demographic has already happened through PR events and allowing word of mouth and anticipation do the rest (which in large part doesn't cost Nintendo a thing and evidenced by the fact that it is already sold out prior to launch).

The reality is that core fans who bought up all the pre-orders are not the ones who are really going to be making money for the company, and brand awareness to the remaining 80% of the market (who will be supporting the bulk of it's profits) who will potentially be buying this thing (that looks and sounds a whole lot like the thing Nintendo already has in the marketplace) is their top priority at this point, and frankly, providing 100% clarity with National TV exposure to moms watching Oprah, Dad's watching football, and kids whose parents don't let them use the Internet that the Wii U is something new, exciting and something they should buy is probably the most important use of their money at this point.

You don't just launch a product without announcing it to the world on day one just because pre-orders have sold out. You need to build the brand, create a saturation of awareness so that you can keep it top of mind when others are considering other options like cheaper xbox bundles this holiday season. You can also be gauranteed that stores have limited their pre-orders to allow for some walk-in units on launch day to increase demand and excitement.

So in short, this is probably the most important action NoA and Nintendo-at-large should be doing at this point and the money spent is certainly worth the alternative of a quiet or failed launch. All eyes (including investors and analysts) will be watching this ad - it's very important for the success of this launch.

Yeah ei8htbit already said what I was going to say but to add a little more. All the Nintendo Directs, Iwata asks and E3 et all that NWR and the media has been letting us know about has just been letting us know about the console and such pretty much has been for us and has been a like a snowball going down a mountain as far as building hype for the console and it is going to keep on going till the launch.

You guys remember the "Wii would like to play" ads for the Wii and how they were leading up to the Launch and even after for a very long time well this is no different. They were for everyone and not just the general gaming public.

First impression: MUCH better than the UK ad with that horribly annoying comedian as the announcer saying "pew pew pew pew pew" like it's an Asteroids arcade cabinet from the 80s...

Definitely does it's job speaking to the non-core audience, it looks and sounds like something new and the whole family can enjoy it or at least play together, but it certainly does nothing to speak to the core (that happened the second they showed SiNG footage)

Overall: this is definitely a Nintendo ad. It's safe and family-oriented. But it will do enough to spread the message that this thing is new and fun to play with - that's enough to get people in stores to the demo stations at least to see for themselves.

@Azeke lol the music is definitely an interesting choice...it sounds like the ad agency recommended something contemporary and high energy that the kids will understand like the ole Dubstep but the client felt uncomfortable with sounding too aggressive so they ended up with a remix of the music from the Gamepad promotional video shown at E3. Also, the legal copy "sequence shortened" stuff is there as a disclaimer for the Nintendo TVii stuff (for subscription-based content and the movie poster images I'm sure)

@Fatty-Hutt: I'm right there with you brother, hyped as hell for this system to launch. I hope it does well, I already know it's fun to play - even with the limited time I've tried it out - and has a ton of potential so naturally hope it gets the support it needs to thrive and make gaming new and exciting again (but most of all, fun)

BTW, isn't it interesting is that, like the UK ad, nowhere do they mention the Nintendo brand name. Probably their way of trying to differentiate it from "Nintendo Wii" and just refer to it as "Wii U" fullstop.

I think it's really interesting that this ad focuses a great deal on children. I mean, it could be "family" focused but I felt that even in family situations the kids were the focus of attention in this ad.

I also like the quick view that, yes, you can play it all by yourself if playing with others is not your thing, with that one kid playing Lego City by himself.

Opps? Nintendo didn't stress the new system instead they refer it to as WII U. Casual parents wouldn't know that that WII U means new system all they would see in an Tablet controller?

The UK one was a bit better IMO in showcasing the system and the games. The NoA has way to much going on and it's short compared to the 2 1/2 minutes one that was in Europe. It's confusing to the casuals IMO.

Nicholas, that's a good ad!Seriously all they have to do is make an ad focused on that golf scene:

No music. The GamePad on the floor, a ball in the sand. She walks up to it. Swings her remote. Pan up to the TV and there's your ball, flying off into the distance. Cut to logo: Wii U. Fifteen seconds. A million sold.

I was at the E3 2011 conference and that scene got the most audible reaction by far. I hope it still exists as a viable play mechanic, though; I'm worried they tried and the Wii remote-to-GamePad interaction just wasn't right. Our imaginations ran away with the original Wii's potential, and much of it stayed a fantasy. Hopefully Actual Wii U is closer to the truth of what we all imagine it can become.